Category Archives: City Theme Activities

Arao City, City Life, City Theme Activities, Guest Speakers

Visit to Kumamoto Castle and Stork’s Cradle

[inspic=1195,,fullscreen,400][inspic=1196,right,fullscreen,400]The start of this summer’s third program in Arao provided World Campus International members the opportunity to visit Kumamoto Castle! It is considered one of the strongest castles in Japan. Under the intense heat of the Japanese summer, we walked inside the fortress’ walls, which have withstood a 52-days siege. A guide explained the history of the castle to us and we were later able to explore the premises by ourselves through a scavenger hunt.

After a quick picnic lunch, we headed towards Jikei Hospital, a baby drop-off center that opened in May 2006. The ‘Cradle of Stork’ offers a safe environment for desperate parents to abandon their baby. The Cradle was founded as a ‘last resort system’ to save the lives of babies who would otherwise be left in unsafe environments. Taiji Hasuda, the chief director of the hospital and founder of hospital wishes such places did not exist. The hospital offers 24/7 counseling services to dispel mothers from leaving their children.

Since the establishment of the Cradle, 500 consultations have taken place, which is more than a 1000% increase. Despite its successes, the “Cradle” in Japan remains the only baby post in Japan and represents a controversial issue. In my opinion, the Cradle of Stork is an instrument in saving the lives of unwanted babies who might have been abandoned to perish. Such places are necessary in order to prevent dangerous situations. I think education on contraception and pregnancies, as well as support for expecting mothers and lifting some restrictions on abortions are important steps to resolve this complicated and controversial issue.

(Liz Cullen, Canada)

City Life, City Theme Activities, Toride City

Kite Making Day!

[inspic=1166,,fullscreen,400][inspic=1165,,fullscreen,400][inspic=1167,right,fullscreen,400]On our last activity day in Toride, all the World Campus International members and their host families spent time together making kites. Split into three teams, the members designed forty different kites within each of their groups. After much effort, the forty kites were strung together and flown at a nearby school. It was beautiful sight to see our colorful artwork displayed in the sky 🙂

City Life, City Theme Activities, Toride City

A Busy Day in Toride!

[inspic=1152,,fullscreen,400][inspic=1151,right,fullscreen,400]After a visit to Canon’s Toride Plant in Ibaraki Prefecture, the World Campus International members participated in several Japanese cultural activities. Among the activities were playing Koto, a Japanese string instrument, children’s games, and learning about traditional dances, including one called ‘Nankin Tamasudare’. In Nankin Tamasudare, the performers use a bamboo mat to create different shapes during their special dance. At tomorrow’s Arigato Event, WCI members will present the activities they took part in 🙂

City Life, City Theme Activities, Toride City

100 Years Reputation

[inspic=1136,,fullscreen,400][inspic=1135,,fullscreen,400][inspic=1139,right,fullscreen,400]Today’s activities started with the introduction of Toride city by high school students. They talked about a lot of things including the firework festival, kite festival, the famous artifact, Keirin the exceptional Keirin racers, about Kirin which is a famous company working globally, and other big companies like Nisshin and so forth. By looking at their sincere attitudes of trying to communicate with poor English, I could feel that they are like me and many other Japanese students interested in learning different cultures. Since I have participated in this program, I could broaden my perspective and have been motivated by intense interactions with people from many different countries. I hope to be stimulated through more of those intercultural experiences in the future.

In the afternoon, we split into four groups to study Japanese culture in four areas, Toride honjin, Shin ropponten, Tanaka sake production, and Abuichi which are called “hyakunen danren,” and we made “commercials” to promote each of them. I went to Abuichi that specializes in the production of Japanese traditional dolls and decided to promote their Hina ningyou (Hina doll). Even for me as a Japanese person, I learned many new things for example, the origin of Hina Matsuri (festival), which takes place on the 3rd of March every year, is the combination of a doll playing called “Hiina Asobi” in Heian era (about 1200 years ago) and a ritual called “Nagashi Bina” to avoid misfortune and bad luck by transferring them into a doll made by straw or paper and floating it into the river or sea. And also I learned that the role of Hina ningyou is to drive away evil spirits and to wish girls’ good health. Each of the commercials were well done and we learned and had fun with studying each. At the end of the day, the Local Organizing Committee in Toride taught us a famous Haiku (Japanese poetry) piece,

Shizukesaya Iwanishimiiru Seminokoe by Basho Matsuo.

I had a day of direct experience touching Japanese traditional culture that is handed down generation to generation, and I could re-recognize the attraction of Japanese culture.

(Chihiro Abe, Japan)

City Life, City Theme Activities, Toride City

Interaction with U35 ExxonMobil Employees

[inspic=1126,right,fullscreen,250]Today became one of the most educational and fun days I have had during my World Campus – Japan experience. The day began with a briefing about ExxonMobil future plans pertaining to different sources of energy. This especially interested me because it took science and brought it to life for me. Afterward, we mingled and played team building games with ExxonMobil’s U35 employees (employees under the age of 35), in order exchange our different cultures represented in the room. I found that the company’s goal of trying to better develop their young employees to be inspiring. One of the lessons I learned from the team building games is that to solve common problems, we need time, teamwork and motivation. As global citizens, we should try to apply the skills we learned on a global scale to solve some of the world’s issues. Networking and bonding with the ExxonMobil employees is quite a rare opportunity and I am really happy to have been a part of it.

(Raymon Cheng, USA)